The Living Experiment: Recent Episodes
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This week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about psychedelics — the consciousness altering substances, and the extraordinary moment they are having in our culture at this time.
We explore the reasons that popular interest in psychedelics has risen dramatically in recent years — although certainly not for the first time — and we consider the historical and emerging scientific research that supports their use in a variety of applications.
We also share our own range of lived experiences with psychedelics and why we have both chosen to dabble with — or avoid — them over the years.
Finally, we offer some considerations on why and how you might choose to learn more about, experiment with, or take a pass on psychedelics yourself.
And as always, we leave you with some experiments to help you delve deeper into this fascinating topic, if you choose.
“Psychedelics” Episode Highlights* Defining psychedelics as a broad category of perception- and mood-altering substances * Acknowledging this as a topic of interest to people who are focused on health, happiness, self improvement, and self discovery, and why we decided to talk about it * The wide variety of uses — as cultural or religious practice, as professionally-guided therapy aid, as recreational drug * The importance we place on the intention and experience over the chemistry, politics, stereotypes, and any expected outcomes * Dallas and Pilar share their experiments with psychedelics * Being open to new ways of making ourselves happier and healthier, and of seeing and experiencing our world * Reasons you may not want to try psychedelics, and other caveats
Read Michael Pollan’s book, How to Change Your Mind (linked below in Resources). As you read it, what comes up for you? Do you agree with his perceptions? Does it raise any doubts in your mind?
If as you listen to this episode you experience really strong feelings of resistance or judgement, explore that. Ask what the narratives are around these substances and/or people who use them that turn you off, or what it might be about yourself that generates these reactions.
Resources Michael Pollan’s thoughtful (and influential) book on psychedelics, How to Change Your Mind, and the Netflix documentary series of the same name based on the book * James Fadiman’s The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide: Safe, Therapeutic, and Sacred Journeys * Some science From WIRED: “This is a Philosopher on Drugs” * Danielle Giffort researches the research in her book Acid Revival * Trip reports from The New Yorker: “The Science of the Psychedelic Renaissance” * “The Best Books About Microdosing and Psychedelic Therapy” from New York Magazine* * Pilar’s “Are You a Healthy Deviant?” quiz * Dallas’s “More Social Less Media” program * Connect with us on Instagram: Pilar and Dallas
Plus …Sign up for The Living Experiment newsletter so you can stay up to date with us, and receive notifications when new episodes are released.
Subscribe to The Living Experiment on Apple Podcasts to have fresh episodes delivered to your podcast feed as soon as they’re released.
Share the Love!Have you told your friends and family about The Living Experiment? If you dig the podcast, please share it! And leave a review at Apple Podcasts or wherever you subscribe. Every recommendation from you means a lot!
We’d also love to have you connect with us on Facebook. Tell us about your experiments, and share your thoughts, stories and reflections there.
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This week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Nutritious Movement, the brainchild of our brilliant friend, biomechanist, fitness expert, and best-selling author Katy Bowman.
Katy’s term “nutritious movement” refers to the type of movement that nourishes, educates, shapes, energizes, and repairs us in ways that support optimal health and vitality. And, as Katy explains during the conversation, that does not describe most conventional fitness approaches.
So here, Pilar talks with Katy about a great many science-y things very few of us have ever learned about movement and exercise, including some key differences between the two.
Katy shares some misconceptions most of us hold about what good fitness constitutes and requires, and she offers up some wonderfully simple, effective, and sustainable strategies for improving your body’s physical form and function.
We wrap up with a few experiments to help you discover what nutritious movement feels like and how you can easily enjoy more of it, starting today.
“Nutritious Movement” Episode Highlights Katy’s philosophy on movement and exercise, and what she means by “nutritious movement” * Defining and differentiating exercise, fitness, and movement * The movement away from movement (and fitness) * The concept of “stacking” to meet all your physical, social, professional, emotional, etc. needs at the same time * Learning to accept (and convince others) that “simple” movement can replace (and even be healthier than) all those exercise classes * The protective effects of movement on our DNA (from Katy’s book, Move Your DNA*) * Parts of the body we tend to neglect — especially the feet * The problems with exercising in repetitive ways * How our clothing restricts daily movement * Re-thinking ongoing immobilization after an injury * Talking minimalist shoes * The metabolic benefits of regular daily movement (vs. bursts of “exercise”)
Experiment of the WeekIdentify a physical behavior that you’d like to engage in, but that you haven’t done yet. Think more along the lines of “I’d love to go camping with my family” or “I really want to do that hike” rather than “I want to go to three exercise classes a week.”
Once you have that picture in your mind, think about the physical limitations that are keeping you from that goal — “My foot hurts” or “My hip has been bothering me for years,” for example. Then pick one activity or movement that you know alleviates that problem — a stretch, a yoga pose — and do it once a day.
As an added experiment, pick one simple, “small bite” movement you can easily add to your day. Walk to the nearby cafe instead of driving. Watch TV sitting on the floor rather than the couch or the recliner.
After a few days of incorporating one or both of these experiments into your routine, notice if you feel motivated to add more movement.
Resources* The Nutritious Movement website, and Katy’s books * The animated definition of nutritious movement * Nutritious Movement blog posts on minimalist shoe brands, and a list of favorite foot, shoe, and walking resources * “Find the Movement In Your Day” video — ideas for more movement without exercise
Plus …Sign up for The Living Experiment newsletter so you can stay up to date with us, and receive notifications when new episodes are released.
Subscribe to The Living Experiment on Apple Podcasts to have fresh episodes delivered to your podcast feed as soon as they’re released.
If you like this podcast, you’ll love Healthy Deviant U!Healthy Deviant U (or HDU, for short) is Pilar’s four-phase, year-long online program that will equip you to become a healthy, happy person in the face of real obstacles. Learn more here.
Share the Love!Have you told your friends and family about The Living Experiment? If you dig the podcast, please share it! And leave a review at Apple Podcasts or wherever you subscribe. Every recommendation from you means a lot!
We’d also love to have you connect with us on Facebook. Tell us about your experiments, and share your thoughts, stories and reflections there.
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This week, we’re talking about Pandemic Era Discoveries. Last winter, after two years spent in various forms of social isolation, Dallas and Pilar met up at an improvised San Diego studio to catch up live and in person. We compared notes about how we’d weathered the weirdness of COVID reality, where we’re at now, and some of the most rewarding stuff we encountered along the way.
From craniosacral therapy to cigars, from continuous glucose monitors to toe correctors, from garden plot puttering to nature-based spirit questing, we serve up some of our favorite COVID keepers, along with some of our just-emerging curiosities.
And, as always, we leave you with some experiments to get you thinking about what you’d like to take away from this next phase of post-COVID reality.
“Pandemic Era Discoveries” Episode Highlights* Catching up on the podcast, and our lives * The mental, emotional, and physical healing potential of craniosacral therapy * Creating beauty through gardening … and all the other benefits * Pilar’s foot-healing discoveries: minimalist footwear and toe spacers * Dallas’s profound experiences on an 11-day Winter Desert Quest at the Animas Valley Institute * Continuous glucose monitoring — not just for diabetics * The low effort/high reward (in Dallas’s opinion) of a continuous fitness and health tracker * Can cigars fit with a healthy lifestyle? (No, and/but …)
If you’ve ignored or abused your feet for the past several years and have never tried a toe-spacer device, consider experimenting with one (see the Resources section below for a link).
Even if you don’t think you’ve abused your feet, look at them closely and ask what they might need from you — more care, scrubbing, exfoliating, massaging, moisturizing, more comfortable shoes, more walking or resting?
An alternate experiment: Soak your feet in a bath of 50% warm water and 50% real, organic apple cider vinegar for 15-20 minutes. Give them a little scrub, and marvel at how revived they look.
The small experiment: If you don’t have a plant at home, get one. It can be small, it can live indoors or out. There’s a quality of tending and connection to a living thing that can be enriching.
The large experiment: Visit the Animas Valley Institute website (link below in Resources) and consider signing up for one of their events. If that’s too big, read one of Bill Plotkin’s books, maybe starting with Soulcraft.
Resources Check out the live interviews Pilar conducted during COVID at The Living Experiment’s* YouTube channel or our Facebook page * Toe spacers: Correct Toes, YogaToes * Minimalist shoes that Pilar has tried: Xero Shoes, Groundies, Lems * Bill Plotkin’s Animas Valley Institute, and his books * Some continuous glucose monitoring programs: Nutrisense, January, Levels * The WHOOP band and Oura ring health and fitness trackers (and our “Biometric Devices” podcast episode) * To learn more about Pilar’s Healthy Deviant U experience and be among the first to know when registration for the next round opens, sign up here
Plus …Sign up for The Living Experiment newsletter so you can stay up to date with us, and receive notifications when new episodes are released.
Subscribe to The Living Experiment on Apple Podcasts to have fresh episodes delivered to your podcast feed as soon as they’re released.
Share the Love!Have you told your friends and family about The Living Experiment? If you dig the podcast, please share it! And leave a review at Apple Podcasts or wherever you subscribe. Every recommendation from you means a lot!
We’d also love to have you connect with us on Facebook. Tell us about your experiments, and share your thoughts, stories and reflections there.
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Ever felt so off-track you wanted to puke? Brian Johnson has. Dreaming up his own dream job as the CEO-Founder of Optimize and Heroic Public Benefit Corporation took a lot of gut checks — and more than a few stomach-turning moments of reckoning. So here, Pilar chats with Brian what it means to be a “living experimenter,” about the inner voices that help each of us find our own way, and about the exciting path Brian sees ahead as he embarks on the most ambitious project of his career — training heroes for a world that needs them more than ever.
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We know moving is good for us. We just didn't know it could be THIS good. Afro Flow Yoga is dance, yoga, music, meditation, and healing ritual all rolled into one beautiful experience. And if you haven't tried it, it's high time you did. Learn from Afro Flow Yoga's co-founders, Leslie Salmon Jones and Jeff W. Jones what makes this transformational body-mind practice so exceptional.
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Is any of us ever really alone in the kitchen? Not if we're lucky, says James Beard Award-winning journalist Dorothy Kalins. The voices of cooks past and present are always rustling in our ears and guiding our hands. In this special guest episode, Kalins (author of "Kitchen Whisperers: Cooking with the Wisdom of Our Friends") talks with Pilar about the rich stores of culinary knowledge that are passed to and through us, and how accessing them with intention can enrich our lives.
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In a world where most of us feel stressed, rushed, and overly busy most of the time, the art of making time is an invaluable one. Here, Pilar talks with New York Times best-selling author John Zeratsky about his approach to that art, and about his book on that topic.
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We live in a culture obsessed with youth, so it's no wonder that many of us approach midlife with angst, anxiety, even dread. Happily, there's another way. Here we discuss our own enthusiastic embrace of midlife, and consider the fact that for many, the second half of life proves more rewarding than the first.
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When life gets weird, the weird get creative. We also get creative. Here, Pilar offers an update on new episodes, the retreat that isn't happening anytime soon, and her Healthy Deviant U experience (which IS happening — now!). Plus a drinkable experiment.
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In a world that can feel increasingly technological, we find solace and sanity in the natural world. Here, Pilar talks to special guest Daniel Vitalis about the art of rewilding, and the value of putting ourselves in closer contact with the earth.
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Our world is weird right now. Tensions are high. With so much happening, and so much at stake, how can you navigate forward with any sense of center? Here, we share our own imperfect strategies, while encouraging you to find your own.
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With autoimmune diseases on the rise, Pilar welcomes special guest Terry Wahls, MD, for an exciting exploration of why our medical approaches to these conditions must change. Dr. Wahls illuminates the power we have to heal our own bodies from potentially life-threatening disease states.
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More than half of US adults have been diagnosed with at least one chronic disease. But it doesn't have to be that way. Here, we talk with integrative physician Frank Lipman, MD about the turnarounds that are possible when we look beyond "disease management" to whole-person health creation.
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